Method of managing reconfigurable terminals within a radio network

ABSTRACT

A respective agent platform in network elements and producer-specific agents that are installed directly on platform or by way of agent proxies of agent providers. The agents then receive raw information on arising operating errors by way of a defined interface of the agent platform, and, together with producer-specific information on the respective terminals or types of terminal that are known only to the respective producer, from corresponding compressed decision information for evaluating cases of error and/or for optimizing reconfiguration decisions. The agents then provide the information for the network element or the network operator and/or the agent provider or the terminal producer, via the defined interface. This leads to a higher reliability of the interoperability of terminals and network elements in mobile radio networks including reconfigurable terminals.

PRIORITY STATEMENT

This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCTInternational Application No. PCT/EP2005/050760 which has anInternational filing date of Feb. 23, 2005, which designated the UnitedStates of America and which claims priority on German Patent Applicationnumber 10 2004 016 381.2 filed Apr. 2, 2004, the entire contents ofwhich are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The invention generally relates to methods, network elements, and/orcomponents for mobile-radio networks having reconfigurable terminals inwhich a new, hitherto unsupported radio technology is employed, forexample by replacing software that configures the terminal'stransceiver.

BACKGROUND

Developing a new technology and using it in mobile telecommunicationnetworks requires much effort in order to make sure the individualcomponents will interact smoothly. That is conventionally achieved byway of costly standardizing—see for example GSM or UMTS—and by testingthe individual components. That applies particularly to the networkelements' interoperation with the terminals. However, a terminal's useof radio technologies is in the case of present-day terminals,restricted to a precisely defined possible range because using a radiotechnology means employing respectively special hardware for therespective radio technology.

In contrast to this, in the case of reconfigurable terminals or, as thecase may be, software-defined radio devices a software-programmabletransceiver allows a new, hitherto unsupported radio technology to beused by replacing the software that configures the transceiver. Newradio technologies and standards can therefore be used simply bydownloading software onto the terminal, meaning that even existingterminals are able to use new technologies in the radio domain later.

The present UMTS standard for example places stringent demands on theterminals, resulting, inter alia, in some manufacturers' already takinga “UMTS Lightweight” standard into consideration which, though lesscomplex, nevertheless delivers the same performance in certainsituations as the original standard. One of the associatedprerequisites, though, is for not only the terminal but also the basestation involved to be able to interpret the modified standard.

It is no longer guaranteed, though, through the new technology forterminals that interacting of the terminals such as, for instance, cellphones, with a base station or the other components in the network, canbe fully tested. The terminals' reconfigurability can, even with utmostcare being taken, give rise to disruptions resulting from softwaredownloading. These can be due to faults in the applied software itselfthat can be ascribed to not being able to adequately test interactingwith the network components for the devices.

SUMMARY

On the one hand, an embodiment of the invention includes a method fordetecting faults and supporting reconfiguration decisions inmobile-radio networks having reconfigurable terminals and, on the other,an embodiment of the invention includes corresponding network elementsand agents by which greater reliability can be achieved in theinteroperability of terminals and network elements in mobile-radionetworks that support reconfigurable terminals.

At least one embodiment of the invention relates essentially to arespective agent platform in network elements as well as tomanufacturer-specific agents installed on said platforms either directlyor via agent providers, agent proxies, with the agents then receivingraw information about occurring operational faults via a definedinterface of the agent platform and, together with manufacturer-specificinformation relating to the respective terminals or, as the case may be,types of terminal that is known only to the respective manufacturer,forming corresponding compressed decision information for evaluatingfault incidents and/or optimizing reconfiguration decisions, and makingthe information available to the network element or, as the case may be,network operator and/or agent provider or, as the case may be, terminalmanufacturer over the defined interface. That will result in greaterreliability in the interoperability of terminals and network elements inmobile-radio networks having reconfigurable terminals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is explained in more detail below with the aid of exampleembodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a presentation for explaining a first example embodiment ofthe invention, and

FIG. 2 is a presentation for explaining a second example embodiment ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows agent-enabled network elements in a radio-access network,with one network element in the form of a radio-network controller, orRNC RNCA, being connected or, as the case may be, connectable to twoterminals T1A and T2A, and a further network element in the form of aradio-network controller RNCB being connected or, as the case may be,connectable to three terminals T1B, T2B, and T3B, and being in each casesupplied by agent providers AP1, AP2, and AP3 directly or, as the casemay be, immediately with agents A1, A2, and A3. In this case theagent-enabled nodes are thus the RNCs of a UMTS. In other technologiesthese can be employed in network elements having an analogous function.For example in Wireless LAN (WLAN) networks, use in the WLAN accesspoints will constitute an analogous use of said kind.

The agents exchange data directly with the respective agent provider,which is to say as a rule with the actual manufacturer or with a serviceprovider. That, though, requires all the agents' application sites to beknown directly to the agent provider. So the agent provider needs toknow on which RNCs its agents have been installed.

Over defined interfaces of an agent platform of the network element theagents A1, A2, and A3 receive raw information needed for evaluatingfault incidents as well as for optimized decision-making in terms ofterminal reconfiguring. Said information is processed or, as the casemay be, compressed into decision information inside the component.

FIG. 2 likewise shows agent-enabled network elements in a radio-accessnetwork which differ from those shown in FIG. 1 only in that the RNCsRNCA and RNCB are supplied with agents A1, A2, and A3 not directly butvia an agent proxy APX of the agent providers AP1, AP2, and AP3. Anagent proxy APX mediates communication between the RNCs on which agentshave been installed with their providers, with the agent proxyconstituting a central location which the network elements access andwhich assumes the managing of which agent provider will supply thedesired information. The providers AP1, AP2, and AP3 can in their turnsend requests and messages for their agents A1, A2, and A3 directly tothe agent proxy APX, which distributes the messages among the agentsconcerned. During installing or, as the case may be, uninstalling, theRNCs on which specific manufacturers' agents have been installed areregistered on the agent proxy APX so that the individual agents A1, A2,and A3 on the RNCs RNCA and RNCB can be addressed via the proxy APX.

The network elements in mobile-radio networks, for example RNCs, areequipped with areas or, as the case may be, agent platforms for agentsof the kind, with the platforms assuming, for instance, the allocatingof computing time for the agents and the controlling thereof. The areain which the agents run is therein protected such that accessing ispossible only by specially authorized users, which is to say by themanufacturer of the respective component. The agent platform is thereinembodied such that the agent itself is conveyed encrypted so thesoftware will not be accessible to third parties.

The platform must furthermore authorize itself with the agent to insurethat third parties will not be able to use the software. Thetransmission of data between the agent and respectively usage-authorizedmanufacturers, which is to say the agent providers, is safeguarded viajust such measures so that the data being transmitted will be treated asconfidential and can only reach the authorized manufacturer.

The network operator has control over who is able to employ agents onsame's network elements, but has no, or only limited, access to theagent's data itself.

Moreover, the network element itself only grants the respectivelyauthorized agent access to the data. Thus, agents can be producedsecurely, for example by the manufacturer of a specific type ofterminal. The agents can then perform functions on the network elementsindependently without third parties' being able to access theconfidential information.

Embodiments of the invention's application are not, however, restrictedsolely to RNCs; they can further be applied to base transceiver stations(BTS). Through the use of agents, in addition to the exampleapplications cited hitherto, it is possible there to realizemanufacturer-specific expansions made to the respective mobile-radiostandard. It is herein assumed that manufacturers of mobile-radioterminals will in the future employ their own manufacturer-specificexpansions made to the mobile-radio standard in order to provide theirdevices with additional advantages. These can include reducing the datarate by using a narrower frequency band, as a result of which themobile-radio cell's existing capacity can be better utilized becausemore terminals can share a band.

However, the non-standard-compliant terminals require amanufacturer-specific expansion of the functionality of the BTS becausethis has to support the expansions made to the standard. Thefunctionality can be made available by the terminal manufacturer byproviding suitable agents for the BTS. Terminals of the type can as aresult be used with any BTS equipped with an agent platform without theBTS manufacturer's having, when designing the BTS, to take account ofsuch expansions made to the standard selectively for specificmanufacturers. Neither will the terminal manufacturer have to discloseall details of same manufacturer's-specific expansion because these canbe processed by the respectively associated agents on the BTS. Thedesign of the interface of the agent platform having the BTS canfurthermore insure that the manufacturer-specific expansions made to thestandard will not conflict with the behavior of other mobile-radiousers.

Analyzing Faults and Gathering Fault Data

Over defined interfaces of an agent platform the network elementstherein makes information available to a manufacturer's agent aboutfaults occurring in connection with the relevant manufacturer's devices.Included here, for instance, are infringements of network protocols,infringements of the radio standard, for example if the terminal uses afrequency range other than that requested or violates timespecifications, and other events resulting in network disruption.

However, information about the type of malfunctioning usually arises inthe domain of the network operator who, though, not being in possessionof the relevant device's full, generally not publicly accessiblespecifications, is unable to interpret the information adequately. Theinformation is, though, necessary if the network is to operate smoothly.Devices in particular that seriously impair network operation must beidentified and, through appropriate measures, pre-vented from continuingto disrupt network operation. That can be done by, for example,selectively applying bug fixes to the terminal software. That, however,necessitates analyzing the operational data and communicating with thenetwork elements. Conveying all data to the manufacturer would, however,entail an unreasonable amount of communication and include conveyingsensitive data about mobile-radio users' behavior. The necessaryprocedure is, moreover, dependent on the type of terminal used and canbe based on information the manufacturer does not wish to disclose.

The agent gathers relevant fault incidents and conveys data or, as thecase may be, compressed information about them to the manufacturer. Thefaults can, moreover, also be analyzed by the agent and necessarydecisions taken, for example reconfiguring the terminal into a failsafedefault mode, initiating software downloading in order to replace faultysoftware with a later version, or disabling the terminal if anoperationally safe condition cannot be attained. That is achieved usingspecial commands which the agent can send to the terminal. These aresafeguarded by authorization codes such that misuse by third parties isprecluded.

Support in the Reconfiguration Decision

Such information is, moreover, also needed for decisions/algorithmswhose purpose is to take the best possible decision about changing overbetween radio technologies. It must therefore be provided in a mannerallowing the operators of the networks to achieve best possibleutilization of their networks without having to make the relevantinformation known publicly, in particular, though, to manufacturers ofnetwork elements (and of the software running thereon). Such informationcan relate to, inter alia, terminal characteristics such as theterminal's energy consumption in specific radio modes, the duration ofreconfiguring, or the transceiver's precise characteristics.

The network element directs an inquiry to the respective manufacturer'sagent, which it processes using the data accessible only to it as wellas the information supplied as part of the inquiry by the networkelement. In response to the inquiry the agent sends the network elementa recommendation that can be used to optimize the flows in the network.Configuration parameters of reconfigurable terminals as well asmanufacturer-specific reconfiguration mechanisms are thus encapsulatedwithin the agent. Neither the network operator, nor the user of themobile terminal, nor other device manufacturers have access to the data.

Decisions about optimal reconfiguring are, as already indicated above,partially relocated to manufacturer-specific agents which, using theinformation made available to them and the manufacturer-specific dataknown only to them, produce decision proposals which the RNC can takeinto account.

Advantages

Network elements that are agent-enabled such as, for example, RNCs,access points, and analogous devices, are able to support reconfigurableterminals such as, for instance, mobile telephones, Private DigitalAssistants (PDAs), and notebooks significantly better than can networkelements of conventional design.

The higher possible fault rate resulting from the flexible programmingof the terminals, protocol stack can be better controlled by includingmanufacturer-specific algorithms/information. In particular, faults thatoccur can be better detected and interpreted because software providedby the device manufacturer can assume this function. This allowsmalfunctions to be correctly interpreted and suitable measures initiatedsuch as, for example, disabling or, as the case may be, initiatingreconfiguration to faultlessly operating default modes, or recognizingthe need to update the software. Moreover, the system can serve todetect sources of faults in the terminal's software early by gatheringinformation about the frequency of faults and their nature and making itavailable to the manufacturer.

A further improvement in reliability can also be achieved by providingmanufacturer-specific fallback actions to be taken in the event of afault which, despite the presence thereof, also allow normal operationto be continued without updating the terminal's software until asuitable software update is available for the terminal.

A further advantage of at least one embodiment of the invention is to beseen in the improved manner in which decisions about reconfiguring theterminals can be taken. While deciding, the agents can take account ofmanufacturer's specifics without said details, having to be made knownpublicly. The technology employed furthermore allows themanufacturer-specific software components to be easily exchanged andreplaced with a new one, which in turn allows account to be taken ofchanges to terminals as well as the introduction of new terminals.

The invention will furthermore allow expansions made to mobile-radiostandards to be employed sooner. That means new manufacturer-specificexpansions made to existing standards, which expansions can contributeto, for example, improved use of the resources in mobile-radio cells,can in a simple manner be employed in mobile-radio networks equippedwith BTSs according to at least one embodiment of the present invention.

Example embodiments being thus described, it will be obvious that thesame may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regardedas a departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention, andall such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art areintended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

1. A method of managing reconfigurable terminals within a radio network, the method comprising: supplying one or more agents to a network element within the radio network, the one or more agents being supplied to the network element via one or more respective agent providers; providing one or more agent platforms within the network element, the one or more agent platforms being provided for storing a respective agent, each agent platform allowing the respective agent provider to set up an agent having specific access rights, communication between respective agent platforms and agent providers being encrypted; receiving, from one or more of the reconfigurable terminals, at the one or more agent platforms, information relating to at least one of fault incidents occurring in the one or more reconfigurable terminals and reconfiguration optimization information of the one or more reconfigurable terminals; and processing, by the one or more agents, the information received at the one or more agent platforms in order to produce decision information and providing the decision information to at least one of the respective terminal, the respective agent provider, the network element, an operator of the network, and a manufacturer of the respective terminal, wherein decisions about reconfiguration optimization are partially relocated by the network element to manufacturer-specific agents, which, using the information made available to them and manufacturer-specific data, accessible only to the device manufacturer, concerning the respective terminal, produce decision information for the network element, and wherein the manufacturer-specific data includes energy consumption of the respective terminal in at least one of specific radio modes, the duration of reconfiguring, and precise characteristics of the respective terminal.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network element transfers raw information about operational faults of the respective terminal to a respective agent of the terminal manufacturer and the agent, when requested by the agent provider, supplies decision information formed based on the raw information.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the decision information contains information about occurring infringements of at least one of a network protocol and a radio standard. 